Tahaa

Tahaa
Location of the commune (in red) within the Leeward Islands
Administration
Country	France
Overseas collectivity	French Polynesia
Administrative subdivision	Leeward Islands
Mayor	Ismaël Tuahu
Statistics
Elevation	0–590 m (0–1,940 ft)
Land area	90.2 km2 (34.8 sq mi)
Population1	5,003  (August 2007 census)
- Density	55 /km2 (140 /sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	98745/ 98733
1 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Tahaa (see footnote for variant spellings) is an island located among the Society Islands, in French Polynesia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean. The islands of Tahaa and neighboring Raiatea are enclosed by the same coral reef, and may once have been a single island.

Administration

Administratively, Tahaa and the surrounding islets emerging from the coral reef form a commune (municipality) part of the administrative subdivision of the Leeward Islands. The administrative centre of the commune of Tahaa is the settlement of Patio.

Vanilla Production

Tahaa produces 70-80% of all French Polynesia's vanilla. Because of the pervasive aroma of vanilla, Tahaa is known as the "Vanilla Island". Tahaa's pearls are of exceptional quality.

Accessibility

Taha'a and its small islets can be reached by boat and outrigger from Raiatea. The short sail drops visitors on an islet beach with a small lagoon, and in the near distance, a view of Bora Bora. These parts of the Society Islands are less modernized.

Tahitian Spelling

The name Tahaa is sometimes spelled Taha’a in Tahitian, using the apostrophe (in fact a variant of it hard to differentiate from the regular apostrophe when using small fonts) to represent the glottal stop, as promoted by the Académie Tahitienne and accepted by the territorial government [1]. This apostrophe, however, is often omitted. In old travelogues, the transcription Oataha is sometimes used.

Bora Bora, Tahaa, and Raiatea from space